What is Lodovico's significance in Othello?
Lodovico is a minor character in this excellent tragedy, and his main role is in Act IV scene 1. However, it is important not to simply dismiss the role of minor characters such as Lodovico, and part of an attentive student's job is to consider how they are used and what function they perform in the play as a whole.
Lodovico then is a kinsman of Desdemona, and he brings news to Othello in Act IV scene 1 that he is to return to Venice, by the order of the Duke, and leave Cassio in command. Lodovico innocently asks after Cassio, which, having heard Iago's suspicions about him, annoys Othello. That it is his wife that responds to Lodovico's question annoys him even further. When Othello strikes his wife because of her happiness at leaving Cyprus, Lodovico is horrified, and this shock is only increased when he accuses her of being a poisonous, unfaithful woman. Lodovico thus acts as a kind of commentary on how Iago has succeeded in changing Othello from the beginning of the play. Note what he says about what he has seen:
Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate
Call all in all sufficient? This is the nature
Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
Could neither graze nor pierce?
Such a speech draws our attention to how Othello has become subject to passions that now dominate him, whereas before he was famed for his self-control and his dominance of his passions. Lodovico thus acts as a reminder of how much Othello has changed, and also this event foreshadows the tragic end of the play. It is only one step up from hitting to murder, after all, and Lodovico, like the audience, has observed Othello's anger and murderous passion in this scene.
What is Lodovico's function in Shakespeare's Othello?
Lodovico’s first words in Shakespeare’s Othello – “Save you, worthy general!” – seem ironic for a variety of reasons. Thus, “Save you” actually means “God save you.” This was a conventional greeting during Shakespeare's era, but it seems fairly ironic since in the immediately preceding scene Othello and Iago have been plotting the murders of Desdemona and Cassio. If anyone truly needs to be saved by God at this point in the play, it is Othello, who is about to risk damning his soul to hell by killing his own wife. Thus, by this point in the play, Othello is anything but the “worthy general” Lodovico still imagines him to be.
Further irony arises when Lodovico asks how Cassio is doing, to which Iago briefly and cryptically replies “Lives, sir” – sardonic words since Iago has just promised Othello that he, Iago, will be glad to kill Cassio on Othello’s behalf.
Irony continues to mount as Lodovico continues to speak. Thus, Lodovico explains Othello’s bad mood by saying that perhaps the letter that he (Lodovico) has brought from Venice has “moved” Othello:
Lodovico.For, as I think, they do command him home,
Deputing Cassio in his government.
Othello is already angry because he thinks that Cassio has been committing adultery with Desdemona. Now he discovers that Cassio will replace him not only in bed (or so he thinks) but also as commander of the Venetians in Cyprus. More gasoline is thrown onto the flames of his jealousy.
Lodovico also functions as the voice of common outrage when he witnesses Othello strike Desdemona:
Lodovico.My lord, this would not be believed in Venice,
Though I should swear I saw't: 'tis very much:
Make her amends; she weeps.
Rather than being a “worthy general,” Othello is now revealed as a wife-beater, although the violence he shows toward Desdemona here is just a foretaste of what will happen later.
As these examples show, Shakespeare often effectively used even minor characters, such as Lodovico, to enhance the themes and tones of his works.
Lodovico is a relatively minor character in William Shakespeare's play Othello. He is a kinsman of Brabantio, Desdemona's father, and thus a sort of uncle to Desdemona. His main action in the play is to serve as a letter bearer from the council in Venice to Othello in Cyprus. He also serves as a sort of "everyman" in that his reaction to the deterioration of the relationship between Othello and Desdemona is that of a disinterested spectator, and shows just how much Othello has deteriorated into madness, to the point of being almost unrecognizable as the "noble Moor" of the opening of the play.
In Othello, what is Lodovico's significance and dramatic purpose?
Lodivico is a kinsmen to Brabantio, Desdemona's father. He serves as a witness to Othello's jealousy when Desdemona says she has "love for Cassio." Othello, thinks his wife means she is romantically involved with Cassio when all she means is she is concerned for him. Othello hits Desdemona in front of Lodivico and this, of course, causes Lodivico to question Othello's behavior and sanity. Lodivico also witnesses Othello's arrest when people realize he has killed Desdemona. Having no idea of Iago's real intentions, in Lodivco's mind, Othello is guilty of murdering a member of his family and is not to be trusted.Get Ahead with eNotes
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